Self-released
Austin’s The Band of Heathens is often saddled with the classic Americana tag, and that isn’t exactly as rote and all-encompassing as it implies. Actually, on its third studio album, the quintet manages to roll in and out and sideways through a lyrical and scenic bit of audio geography that the group can call its own as it takes on the blues ( “Should Have Known” ), folk bliss ( “Polaroid” ), gospel-tinged soul ( “The Other Broadway” ), a soaring shuffle ( “Gravity” ), a resonating piece about the recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill ( “Free Again” ) and a low key pearl of harmonic heaven ( “Gris Gris Satchel” ). The Band of Heathens triumph, not so much because it captures the Americana spirit, but because it reminds us what it’s like to be human.
